Tabs

20 January 2016

It might be time to revive this old series of Chronicles on originals and copies and inspirations and homage. In a sense, all I had to say on these issues had already been said, but some recent encounters show new and different models for the copies. Now, the originals seem to be Japanese, and this is interesting in itself.

The following pen is a Paidi “Century 1”. Paidi is just one of the brand names of the well known Shanghai Hero Pen Company.

Paidi "Century 1".

Under the rather colorful body, an interesting nib emerges—an integral steel nib in the fashion of the Pilot Murex/Myu and the Parker T1/Falcon.

The integrated nib.

The Paidi Century 1 (bottom) together with other well known integrated nibs.

Can we speak of copies? This Chinese pen dates from the 1990s and therefore showed up in the market years later than the American and Japanese counterparts. At the same time, the variations in shapes and colors among all these pens are clear and hardly any confusion could exist in the eyes of the consumer. But is this enough to speak of different pens instead of plagiarism? The answer might depend on the side of the border you were in.

From the top, clockwise, Parker Falcon, Pilot Murex, Paidi Century 1.

From the top, clockwise, Parker Falcon, Pilot Murex, Paidi Century 1.

This is the model Century 1, and there are other variations—the Century 5, and the Century oversize with a screw on cap. The same nib was also implemented on some models marketed as Hero.

Actually, the 1990s might be a tad too old for this pen to being born. Keep in mind that those integrated nibs, by Parker and by Pilot, saw their glory days in the 1970s. The last models, Pilot Murex and Parker 50/Falcon date from the late 1970s.

This kind of Hero Fountain Pen were produced in early 2000s by Hero's Jiangyin Branch aka. 江阴工艺笔厂Jiangyin Art Pen Factory/派迪集团Paidi Group.The Vice director of Jiangyin Branch introduced this kind of Fountain Pen in 2003.